Summer Reading (get it?)

I take summer reading very seriously. For the last number of years I have more or less been drawn to read mostly classic Southern writers every summer. It’s almost like a little literary alarm clock that goes off every spring. I can’t wait to dive in to some Flannery O’Connor (though when I do, she FREAKS ME OUT), Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, and Harper Lee. This year I was faced with Faulkner. I think that’s sounds like a book printed by Oxford University Press. Faced with Faulkner. Frankly, I just wasn’t ready for Faulkner. I tried reading Go Down Moses a number of years ago and it was like stirring molasses. I was sweating and winded by page three. Also, currently all the new copies of Faulkner have “Oprah’s Book Club” burned into to the covers like a brand or a scarlet letter. While I’d like to give it up to Oprah for getting people to READ, I have some issues with her name even mixing with such writers at Marquez and Faulkner. I mean, can’t you at least make it a STICKER that we can PULL OFF?

This isn’t to say that I won’t read Faulkner EVER. By golly, I WILL go down WITH Moses eventually. I swear to it! Just not this summer. Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, I have a tendency to take things WAY TOO SERIOUSLY (see commentary on Oprah above), and I was ready and willing to just enjoy myself.

Enter the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer.

My work pal Ben recommended this young adult series as a chaser to any serious reading overload. He had just finished the SCARY AS ALL GET OUT non-fiction masterpiece The Devil and the White City and was in need of something to CLEANSE the literary pallet. So his friends recommended these series and when he was done he recommended it to me with some qualifications. He warned me that they were written a little OVERLY dramatic. He cautioned that it was a TEENAGE romance series, but the twists and turns kept him coming back for more.

Boy was he right on all counts. In case you are not familiar with the Twilight Series it’s about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. I’d say the conflict is pretty clear. The writing is like Sweet Valley High meets Anne Rice. Not my favorite kind of thing on either counts. Sometimes it’s SO Sweet Valley High, I have to let go of ANY standards and gloss over it. Then, just as I am about to GIVE UP, throw in the towel, some big giant scary even happens and I am GLUED to the page.

I’ll admit it—I think the main character Bella is annoying, kind of a humorless pill, and a classic co-dependent. Why the magical world of changelings is drawn to her is beyond me, but when it comes down to it, I can’t stop reading. Graham was teasing me that I went from reading a classic of American literature, The Great Gatsby, to vampire romance novels. I responded with, “Shhhhh! Don’t talk to me---Edward and Bella are in a fix!” Apparently, so am I. The fourth and final installment comes out in August. Oh man, am I holding my breath.